Over a decade ago, Pastor Richard Gazowsky, the focus of a new documentary called “Audience of One,” heard the voice of God, and God told him to make a movie (the audience of “One” is, of course, God):”The Lord spoke to me, like out of the blue: You will start a film company. I want you to be the Rolls Royce of filmmaking, be better than anyone in the world… I believe God has given us a vision.”Eric Zassenhaus quotes Gazowsky in his article, “God Makes an Independent Film,” about both Gazowsky’s quest to make “Gravity: The Shadow of Joseph” with the help of his church community, and the documentary filmmaker, Michael Jacobs, quest to follow this “charismatic, avuncular pastor of a San Francisco Pentecostal Church on his divine mission to make a multimillion-dollar science-fiction film based on the biblical story of Joseph.”The article makes “Audience of One” sound like a real-life “Waiting for Guffman”:“The group encounters the kind of tribulations you might expect a mostly nonprofessional cast taking on a Hollywood epic to encounter, or, for that matter, a small group of believers wandering in the wilderness. Cameras jam. Sets crumble. Promised funds never materialize. Cast and crew members quit. And, in the beautifully medieval Italian town of Alberobello where the only two scenes of the epic movie are ever shot, Italian extras regard Gazowsky with befuddled disinterest as he attempts to direct and lead them in prayer.”And I have to admit, now I want to see it. Check out the trailer:

More from Beliefnet and our partners
Close Ad